Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Before the carriage knew it, it had arrived at the village entrance. Under a big tree at the village entrance, several women sat doing needlework and chatting about everyday matters.

A sharp-eyed woman spotted Mu Nan driving his carriage slowly towards them from afar. "Hey, isn't that Mu Nan? And who's the little girl sitting next to him?"

"Aunt Wu, don't you know? That's Mu Nan's new wife. I heard he traded his mute sister for her. Her family even runs a business in town!"

"No wonder his family paid off all our debts a few days ago and even gave us a huge piece of brown sugar. Turns out he married a rich man's daughter."

"Aunt Li, we've returned the few taels of silver to our family. Cuiying and her husband came to return it, and they also gave us a piece of brown sugar."

"I have also returned the five taels of silver from my family."

"Oh my! It seems that Mu Nan really did marry another rich girl to pay off all his debts."

"Yes! Mine has been paid off too. I heard the Mu family still had several hundred taels of silver in debt, but they paid it off just like that. It seems that the girl's family is really rich."

"I'm telling you, don't talk nonsense. My daughter-in-law's family and Mu Nan's family are neighbors, separated only by a wall. Her family just runs a small general store. They're not rich girls at all."

“My daughter-in-law also said that the girl’s grandmother and father do not like her. It was her family that proposed to exchange marriages with the Mu family, just so they wouldn’t have to pay her brother’s thirty taels of betrothal money. Her brother is also an idiot.”

"Oh? Is that so? Did the Mu family find some way to make money? Is that why they paid off their debts so quickly?"

"Hey, hey, look, there are several more carriages behind us!"

"Oh my god, are those cows on that truck? How come there are so many spotted cows? Could this be something the Mu family bought? My goodness, why did they buy so many cows all at once?"

"Hey, it really is. I counted, there are twelve cows in total, plus two big yellow oxen. That must be worth several hundred taels of silver, right? Looks like we really made some money."

"The Mu family patriarch was in business when he was alive. Now that Mu Nan and Mu Xiao have grown up, it's normal for them to start doing business again."

"But I haven't heard anything about them starting a business again!"

"Yes! What kind of business is so valuable?"

"A few days ago, Old Man Mu asked Master Liu to build a stove at his house. I heard that he built a new stove with three large pots."

"Ah! No wonder my husband said he'd run into Old Man Mu and Mu Xiao carrying two loads of things to town several times. They must be in the food business."

"That must be it. Cuiying's cooking is quite good," said an aunt who had eaten Wang Cuiying's cooking.

"It's also possible that Mu Nan went deep into the mountains and found something valuable. We can't earn that kind of money; our lives are more important."

……

A group of aunties were speculating about the Mu family's affairs, but Xiuhe, who was sitting on the side sewing shoe soles, didn't say a word.

The two people sitting in the carriage did not expect that before they even arrived home, the news of their purchase of more than a dozen spotted cows would spread to every household in the village.

While checking the rice seedlings in the field, Old Man Mu saw several horse-drawn carriages following behind his son and daughter-in-law's carriage. The carriages were filled with white oxen and stopped directly in front of his house. He quickly picked up his hoe and hurried home.

Boss Niu directed his men to park the carriage. Seeing the large courtyard with its blue bricks, he thought, "They really are a wealthy family!"

Mu Nan parked both the borrowed and purchased carriages in the courtyard.

Wu Zihao and his mother also got off the carriage. Wang Qing'er helped Wu's mother sit down on a chair in the courtyard. "Auntie, sit down and rest for a while. You three stay here and keep your mother company." She noticed that Wu's mother's complexion was not very good and was a little worried, so she asked her three daughters to stay with her.

"Girl, go ahead and do your work! Don't worry about me," Wu's mother said weakly.

Mu Nan, Wu Zihao, and Boss Niu's gang used hay as bait to lure the cattle off the cart and tied them all to trees by the roadside.

Hearing the commotion, Zhou, who was in the vegetable garden next door, quickly came out and saw so many cows tied up at the door, cows she had never seen before. She hurried over to Wang Qing'er and asked, "Qing'er, why did you buy so many cows? And they're all white!"

"Grandma, these are dairy cows, they're dairy cows that produce milk." Wang Qing'er whispered in Zhou's ear.

"Really? Did your maternal grandparents raise this kind of cow?" Anyway, nowadays, the Mu family members assume that anything they don't know or haven't seen before must have been from Wang Qing'er's maternal grandparents.

"Uh! No, Grandma, I heard from others that this kind of spotted cow produces milk that people can drink, especially the elderly and children. It's good for their health, and adding milk when making pastries will make them taste much better."

"Huh? The milk comes from these cows?" Zhou didn't go into the yard, but just stood outside touching and looking at the cows. She had drunk milk before, and it tasted good.

"Yes, it's milk from this kind of cow." Wang Qing'er looked around but didn't see the two maids, Muqin and Yao'er. Especially Yao'er, who usually followed Zhou Shi, was nowhere to be seen today. So she asked Zhou Shi, "Grandma, where are Yao'er and Muqin?"

Zhou gently stroked the cow's soft fur. "Oh, your mother took them to the back mountain to look for mushrooms."

"Yao'er went too?" Wang Qing'er was worried that Yao'er was too young to walk and that it would be troublesome if she fell.

Yesterday, seeing the little girl's biological mother living so well in the city, with maids serving her, while the little girl I lost couldn't even get meat before she came, I felt a pang of heartache.

"She wanted to go with us, so we let your mother take her since we weren't far from the back of the mountain."

"That's good!" While the two were talking, all twelve cows were led off the cart. Mu Nan paid the remaining balance for the cows. Each dairy cow cost twenty taels of silver, for a total of ten cows. Each male yellow cow cost thirty-five taels of silver, and each female cow cost thirty taels of silver. After deducting the deposit, two hundred and fifteen taels of silver were still owed.

"Thank you, sir. You can still come to me if you need cattle in the future; I'll deliver to your door." The cattle boss put away the banknotes, grinning from ear to ear.

"Boss, if you have any more of these spotted cows in the future, just send them over, we'll take them all." Mu Nan thought that his wife must have a great use for raising these dairy cows, so he added this to the cow owner.

He'll take any that are sent over; if not, he'll raise these well, and they'll multiply considerably in a few years.

"Alright, I'll keep an eye out for you, sir. If you find it, bring it over." Boss Niu said, then led his men away. Several carriages sped off, raising a cloud of dust.

Seeing that Boss Niu had left but the two boys who had helped pull the ox were still there, Zhou asked Wang Qing'er, "Qing'er, weren't those two boys with Boss Niu? Why didn't they leave?"

"Grandma, one of them is called Zihao and the other is called Zixuan. They are the people I brought back. From now on, they will stay at home. Their mother and younger siblings will also stay in the yard."